The oven door closed with a loud noise and Marie focused again on the tray of bread. The heat emanating from it made her whole face red as she walked to the entrance of the bakery, a little lump of witch in training awaiting her there. Paying extra attention to the hot tray, Marie laid it on the counter, turning to face Maka. "Is everything alright, Maka?"
"I haven't received a single job since arriving here." Maka tapped her finger on the counter, watching it with her cheek pressed against the surface. "I mean, even when I was travelling I managed to get a few jobs here and there, and the moment I settle for a city, poof, no one wants my help."
"Starting a business is hard. It's only normal that at first you don't get any customers. What do you say we go to the market and give some pamphlets after I'm done baking the next batch? Franken can take care of the shop meanwhile."
Before Maka could reply, the door opened and a teenager burst in. "Is this where the witch is?"
"Uh, yeah." Maka eyed him wearily. His chest was heaving, and his golden eyes scanned her quickly before practically throwing himself at her.
"Please, please, please, I'm begging you, I need your help."
"Uh, I'll do what I can."
"Excellent!" The boy grabbed her hands and soon they were out of the shop and running through the streets.
The boy led them (Maka barely had time, but in a quick look back realized that Soul was following them) through what she assumed was the worst part of town. The streets were narrow and sinuous and all seemed to be connected. Maka soon realized she wasn't going to be able to return through the same way on her own.
After a while the boy slowed his pace from running to quick walking, which Maka was grateful for, it had been a while since she had to run for a long period and she was sure her legs were going to be sore the next morning.
Kneeling for a moment to catch Soul, she looked at the guy. "Not trying to be rude, but who are you?"
"Sorry, I guess I forgot in the hurry." At least he looked ashamed about it. "My name is Kid, and I'd like to use your services to help me with my home."
"What's the matter with–" There was something off in the corner of her eye. Turning her head she realized that at the end of the alley they were passing were a couple floating figures.
"Ghosts, huh? It's weird, I hadn't seen any around here for a while."
It was an instant, but Maka locked eyes with one of them, the taller one. She had an eerie aura, which was pretty much given with any ghost, but her eyes were what shook her. They were cold, calculating and sent shivers down her back. Her mouth went dry and she forgot where she was going for a second.
When Kid talked she jumped, and realized that she had completely forgotten about him for a second. "By the way, I'm a necromancer, and I really need your help making my home symmetrical, " he said, face twitching in pain at the thought.
It was an odd request to say the least. But after the drought they have been through, Maka was willing to accept almost any job.
"Okay! Let's do this!" Her steps were more confident now. How was she even going to manage making a house symmetrical could wait for later.
At some point the neighbourhood changed, and the houses became more elegant, ost of them with exquisite gardens and big fences surrounding them.
Kid stopped right in front of a rather macabre one. Skulls designs and ornaments could be found everywhere, along with candles of all kinds and sizes. Red, black, and white were the predominant colours, and made Maka feel as if she had just entered a mortuary. But what could she expect from a necromancer's home? Strangely enough, everything seemed to be symmetrical, at least on the outside. A path divided the property right in the middle, leading to the main door with a doorknob in the center.
The work would be on the inside then, if there was any. As they stepped across the threshold, Maka noted how the strange color pattern and design was a clear reflection of the outside.
Despite the mess that Maka had expected by Kid's words, it was a rather pleasant place. The furniture was mostly old, apparently brought from all around the world and arranged in a rather chaotic way, but it was in impeccable condition.
It was obvious that the house didn"t need no rearrangement so Maka turned to Kid expectantly. "Well... What do you exactly want me to do?"
"We can start taking that sofa and putting it over there." He pointed over to one big, probably heavy, sofa, that was in the middle of the living room. "That way if we put that other small one over there and a small table next to it it will be almost symmetrical."
Maka's eyes widened a bit, and she shared a look with Soul, who decided the best way of action was to curl up in the bag.
….
She would die before admitting it, but Maka was a bit out of breath by the time Kid suggested taking a break. After the whole living room was set to his standards they moved onto the different halls and rooms and were currently working on one of the studies (because apparently they had three).
She eagerly accepted the offer to move onto the kitchen and have some snacks before continuing working.
With a warm cup of hot chocolate in front of her and Soul on her lap she allowed herself to relax for a bit, leaning into the humeante cup.
"I realized I didn't ask before. How long have you been here?" asked Kid from the other side of the table.
"Not long. It's only been a few weeks."
"And you already have a place to stay?"
"Yeah, a werewolf helped us with that. Weird guy."
To her surprise Kid chuckled. "You'll find lots like that in this city."
"So it seems."
"I'm guessing you are here for your witch training?"
"Yup! I was hoping to practice making potions for daily life issues, but it's hard to find the ingredients needed." She slumped onto the cup, the memory of a couple days ago still fresh in her mind.
It was a sunny day, and Maka had decided she was going to get some ingredients she was lacking. Perhaps she could do another potion for arthritis and sell them around. Maybe even a few more, to improve the sight, help with issues memories, if she was feeling adventurous perhaps she would even try to prepare one that improved your charm. But no matter where she went she didn't find what she needed. The herbs were too short, too long, too dry, or where picked up without knowing how to. She found a couple of bezoars, but they looked a bit funny, and she was pretty sure they were just rocks picked up in a river. There was only one shop which sell quality ingredients, and they were way overpriced. She couldn't allow to buy even half the things she needed.
Soul sensed her discomfort and nudged her hand with his head, which brought her back to the present. She looked up to Kid watching Soul intently.
"This is Soul, my familiar."
"I see. Nice to meet you, Soul."
Soul looked at him for a moment, before jumping out of her lap and leaving the kitchen, disappearing into the mansion.
"Soul! I'm sorry, he doesn't usually act like that," she apologized with a worried glance after Soul.
"It's ok. I'm well aware of the reputation we necromancers have." Kid took both their cups, now empty and smiled politely, the expression looking natural even though it was surely forced. "Well, let's continue working!"
The sun was already setting when they finished reorganizing the furniture up to Kid's standards and he offered to walk them home.
"Thanks! I'm not too sure I'd would've been able to find the way back on my own," she admitted after making sure that Soul was nearby.
He had spent the whole day as far away from them as possible, which with Soul wasn't too unusual, but he seemed a bit too suspicious of Kid.
Walking slower this time, Maka had time to take in the streets they passed and was happy to realize she recognized some. They walked through one that was close to where she had met BlackStar, and she was pretty sure another one was close to where they went to get the bread every morning for Marie.
"Hmm, interesting." Kid murmured at some point.
"What is it?" She moved her head to where he was looking to: a small empty alley with only a couple trash cans.
"The ghosts. When we passed through here earlier there were two ghosts in this alleway. It seems they are gone once more."
"Oh, was it here?" Maka wasn't able to see any difference between the alley they were looking at and the ones they had passed before, but Kid seemed convinced it was the same one.
"Yes. We should keep moving."
But before they could even take a step one of the trash cans was thrown towards them. Barely able to move out of the way in time, Maka glanced back at it as the can crashed against a wall.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here." Moving her head towards the voice, Maka saw one of the ghosts, the one with long hair, smiling at them.
"You two better give us your money." The smaller ghost appeared on the other side of the street, effectively cutting off their escape route.
"I don't think that's going to happen," growled Kid. Following his lead, Maka stood up, back to back with him. Like hell two ghosts were going to steal the money she had just made.
"That's a shame," the taller one said and with a flick of her wrist the can was flying again towards them. Maka stepped forward, a spell already spilling from her lips. The can crashed into an invisible wall a few meters from them. From her peripheral vision she saw Kid move and a screech. Whatever the other ghost had done, he must had stopped it.
"Ladies, please, I would appreciate if we could leave this incident aside and each of us would part in our merry way," the necromancer said.
"Ladies?" Both ghosts started cackling before the became serious. "You are not getting rid of us that easily."
"As you wish." Maka didn't see what Kid did, but she felt the ground tremble and crack around them. White long limbs emerged from it, skeletons fully closing them in a tight circle which was going to be hard to break. "You shouldn't threaten a necromancer."